Ardcarne Life Assurance / BG-Demo – Kickoff
Callcompleted
Ardcarne Life Assurance · 6 Oct 2026 15:30
Ardcarne's Chief Data Officer wants one trusted view of each broker firm. She starts small, expects usage to grow in a controlled way, and asked what happens at term end on 30 Sep 2027. The nightly extract is the main unknown.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Ardcarne's Chief Data Officer wants one trusted view of each broker firm. She starts small, expects usage to grow in a controlled way, and asked what happens at term end on 30 Sep 2027. The nightly extract is the main unknown.
What happened: Elena Novak ran the kickoff with Theo Gallagher and Ollie Pearson. Niamh Costello set the first outcome as a single trusted view per broker firm, with individual brokers out of scope for now.
Customer view: Niamh said she was nervous about this one and will watch the first weeks closely. She wants early, honest warning if usage lags.
Commercial: Niamh asked what happens at the end of the term. Elena confirmed the Enterprise subscription of £125k runs to 30 Sep 2027, with renewal on 1 Oct 2027, and that the executed order form governs.
Watch: the policy administration extract decides the first connector group and the date of a first view. Theo still owes the exit plan test evidence, the July outage note and the control mapping evidence.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Enterprise kickoff, broker firm view
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Niamh asks the policy administration team about the nightly extract and confirms the broker CRM admin; Ollie Pearson then gives a first view date.
- Theo Gallagher confirms the exit plan test date with the platform team and sends it in writing by the end of that week.
- Elena Novak brings an adoption plan to the first review and sends the written actions.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The policy administration extract is old, owned by a small team, and may not be reusable, which would lengthen the first connector group.
- Low early usage could prompt a value question from finance, as Niamh said she would be asked what was paid for.
- Exit plan test evidence, the July outage note and the control mapping evidence remain open for her CISO.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Broker distribution and customer service join once the firm view is trusted, which fills the 150 users the Enterprise licence includes.
- A planned adoption plan and a fortnightly cadence give a route to show value before the first renewal.
Transcript
Elena NovakHello, Niamh, can you hear us all right? I think we have a slight echo on our side.
Niamh CostelloI can hear you fine. Good afternoon, Elena. No echo here, it might be Theo's microphone.
Theo GallagherAfternoon, both. Let me mute the laptop speakers, give me a second. Better?- Elena NovakMuch better, thank you. Ollie, you are with us as well?
Ollie PearsonHere, sorry, I was finding the right window. Afternoon, Niamh, good to meet you properly. I've only seen your name on the paperwork until now.- Niamh CostelloLikewise. It's been a long road to get to this point, so I'm glad to be on a call that isn't a questionnaire.
- Theo GallagherHa. Fair. We did send you quite a few of those.
- Elena NovakShall we begin? I sent the agenda by email this morning, but to confirm, there are five items. One, the outcome Ardcarne wants from the first ninety days, in Niamh's words. Two, the security handover from Theo, so that nothing from the review is lost. Three, the connectors and the order we bring them in. Four, users, access and who owns what on your side. Five, the cadence between us and the written actions. Is that acceptable, Niamh?
- Niamh CostelloThat's fine. Can I start with the outcome, since it frames everything else?
- Elena NovakPlease do.
- Niamh CostelloSo, the reason we bought this. Right now, if somebody in broker distribution asks how a particular broker firm is doing, and somebody in customer service asks the same question, they get two different answers, because they're each looking at their own system. What does good look like for the brokers? One view of each firm. Same answer for both teams, and an answer I could put in front of the regulator without apologising for it.
- Ollie PearsonThat's very clear. When you say one view of each firm, is the broker firm the unit, or do you also need to go down to individual brokers within a firm?
- Niamh CostelloFirm first. Individuals later, maybe. Let's not over-engineer it. If we get the firm view right and trusted, that's a win for the first quarter.
- Ollie PearsonGood, that makes the sequencing simpler. I'll come back to that in the connectors item.
- Elena NovakTo confirm what I have written: the first outcome is a single trusted view per broker firm, shared by broker distribution and customer service, with individual brokers out of scope for now. I will make sure that is the first line of the written actions.
- Niamh CostelloPerfect.
- Elena NovakTheo, if you would take item two.
- Theo GallagherYes. I'll list the open items first, with owners, because that's how I like to run these. The review itself is closed and the order form is executed, so what I have is not blocking, it's follow-through. There are a few. One, the exit plan: you have the document, but you asked us to show it working rather than described, so we owe you evidence of a test of that plan. Owner is me, with the platform team for the technical side. Two, the post-incident note on the July outage. Your security team has the draft; I'd like to confirm the final wording against what they asked for. Owner is me again. Three, the control mapping against DORA: it's delivered, but there are a couple of control references where you wanted the evidence attached rather than linked. That's mine too, I'm afraid.
- Niamh CostelloYou say a few. Are any of those things that my CISO would regard as unresolved?
- Theo GallagherNot unresolved, no. Closed in principle, open in paperwork. I'd rather say that plainly than dress it up. The exit plan test is the one with real work in it.
- Niamh CostelloOkay. I need him comfortable, and he was reasonable through the whole review, so I'd rather he heard it from you than from me. When can he see the test evidence?
- Theo GallagherHere is the dated commitment, but I have to be careful. The test depends on the platform team's calendar, and I don't want to give you a date I haven't checked with them. I'll ask them today and put a date in the written actions by end of this week.
- Niamh CostelloThat's acceptable. I'd rather have a date you've checked than a date you've guessed. I've had enough of the other kind.
- Theo GallagherUnderstood. And on the July outage, I'd say this for the record: the review ran through it, and you saw how we handled it, which I think is part of why you were comfortable signing. But the note needs to be final and not a draft, so I won't call it final until your security team has seen it.
- Niamh CostelloGood. Don't call it final until they've said so.
- Elena NovakNoted. Three items for Theo, each with an owner, and the exit plan date to be confirmed with the platform team before it is written down. Niamh, is there anything on the security side that you would like added?
- Niamh CostelloOne thing. Whoever on your side has access to our data inside the environment, I want that list. Not now, but as part of the early actions.
- Theo GallagherYes. Because it runs inside your Snowflake account, you control the roles, and what we'd give you is the list of roles we ask for and why. Ollie will know which of those are needed for the build.
- Ollie PearsonRight, yes. I'd keep it to the minimum for the build, and we widen it only if we have to, with your approval each time. I can send that role list as part of the plan.
- Niamh CostelloGood.
- Elena NovakThen item three. Ollie, please.
- Ollie PearsonSure. I'll share my screen, bear with me. Can you see the plan?
- Niamh CostelloI can see a document. It's quite small.
- Ollie PearsonLet me make it bigger. How's that?
- Niamh CostelloYes, that's fine.
- Ollie PearsonSo, Enterprise gives you up to twenty connectors, and the implementation is planned over twelve weeks. I would not use all twenty in the first wave. What I'd propose is three groups. The first is the sources that make the broker firm view, which is your broker CRM, the policy administration extract and the helpdesk your customer service team uses. The second group is the communication layer, calls and email, because that's where the context sits. The third is the finance and reference data, which can wait until the firm view is trusted.
- Niamh CostelloThat ordering makes sense to me. My worry is the policy administration extract. That system is old, and the team that looks after it is small.
- Ollie PearsonThat's useful to know. Is the extract something that already runs on a schedule, or would somebody have to build it?
- Niamh CostelloIt runs nightly for another purpose. I'd have to check whether we can point you at the same file.
- Ollie PearsonThat would be ideal, reusing a file that already exists and is already controlled. Could you ask that team? Then I'd know whether the first group is a couple of weeks or something longer.
- Niamh CostelloI'll ask this week. I don't want that to be the thing that holds us up.
- Elena NovakTo confirm: Niamh will ask the team that owns the policy administration extract whether the existing nightly file can be used, and report back to Ollie. I will put that in the actions with her name beside it.
- Niamh CostelloYes, with my name.
- Ollie PearsonOne more thing on connectors, and it's from experience rather than anything specific to you. Sources change. A system gets upgraded, a field gets renamed, and a connector quietly stops loading. So I'd like us to agree early who on your side tells us when a source system is going to change.
- Niamh CostelloThat's a fair point and it's one we're not good at. Changes go through a change board, but the data office isn't always in the room.
- Elena NovakPerhaps one of your team could be named as the contact for source changes, and we would add that to the agreed roles.
- Niamh CostelloI'll name someone from my team. I'd rather it's one person with a deputy than a mailbox that nobody reads.
- Ollie PearsonPerfect. A person with a deputy is exactly right.
- Theo GallagherCan I add something on the connector order, from the security side? If the helpdesk and the broker CRM both carry personal data, I'd like us to agree what is indexed and what is left out before the first load, not after.
- Niamh CostelloYes, absolutely. That's a conversation for me, my CISO and the privacy team, and I'd like it before anything loads. Can you send us the field list you'd expect to bring in?
- Ollie PearsonI can. I'll draft it from the connector documentation, and your team can strike out whatever shouldn't come across.
- Niamh CostelloGood. That's the right way round.
- Elena NovakNow item four, users and access. Niamh, your licence is for one hundred and fifty users, and Enterprise includes single sign-on and SCIM. How do you see the rollout?
- Niamh CostelloSmall first. At the moment it's me and a couple of people from the data office, and that's deliberate. I don't want a hundred and fifty people logging in on day one to a thing that's half built. Broker distribution and customer service come in once the firm view is trusted.
- Elena NovakThat is sensible. I would only say that the licence is there when you need it, so there is no pressure from our side to fill it.
- Niamh CostelloGood to hear, but I'd still like to see usage grow in a controlled way. If it sits at three people for six months, I'll be asked what we paid for.
- Elena NovakThen perhaps we agree a simple adoption plan with your team leads, so that the growth is planned and not accidental. I would bring that to the first review.
- Niamh CostelloYes, please. And be honest with me. If it isn't being used, tell me early. I'd rather hear that from you.
- Elena NovakI will make sure that you do.
- Theo GallagherOn single sign-on, that's one for your identity team. Do you know who would configure it on your side?
- Niamh CostelloA colleague in IT. I'll introduce them to you by email, so it's not me relaying messages.
- Theo GallagherThat would be better. I'd want to see the sign-on set up before anyone beyond the core group gets access, so it's not something we retrofit.
- Niamh CostelloAgreed.
- Ollie PearsonJust to sanity check the timeline, because I know you'll ask. The contract started on 1 Oct 2026, so we're in the first week of a twelve week implementation. The first group of connectors is the critical path, and the policy administration question is the main unknown.
- Niamh CostelloI never accept vague timelines, as Elena will tell you, so let me ask it directly. When do I see a first firm view, even a rough one?
- Ollie PearsonFair question. If the extract can be reused, I'd expect a rough view some weeks in, not at the end. But I won't put a date on it until I've heard from your policy administration team. I'll give you a real date as soon as I have that answer.
- Niamh CostelloOkay. Then the extract is the thing to chase, and I'll do that tomorrow.
- Elena NovakThank you. I will record that Niamh owns the extract question, and that Ollie will give the first view date once it is answered.
- Niamh CostelloMay I ask one thing about the commercial side, so it's out of the way? The contract is for the year, with the annual fee of £125k, and it ends on 30 Sep 2027. I want to be clear what happens at the end, because finance will ask me.
- Elena NovakOf course. To confirm, the annual subscription is £125,000, it is invoiced in line with the order form, and the term runs to 30 Sep 2027, with renewal on 1 Oct 2027. As your CSM, I would start the renewal conversation well ahead, and you would have our written notice of it, so there is no surprise. I would not expect you to have to chase us.
- Niamh CostelloThat's what I wanted to hear. I'll tell finance it's the order form that governs, and nothing else.
- Elena NovakYes, the executed order form governs. If anyone asks for something different, please send them to me.
- Theo GallagherWhile we're on governance, can I propose something small? A short written note every two weeks of the open security items, even if the list is empty. It costs me ten minutes and it means your CISO never has to ask.
- Niamh CostelloI like that very much. Empty lists are underrated.
- Elena NovakThen the cadence, item five. I would suggest a short call every two weeks during implementation, with me, Ollie and you, and Theo as needed. After go live we move to the regular reviews that come with Enterprise, and you will have an executive sponsor on our side. Does that suit you?
- Niamh CostelloEvery two weeks is right. Same slot if you can. Late afternoon suits me, like today.
- Elena NovakI will send the invitations after this call, same time of day.
- Ollie PearsonBefore we finish, can I check one assumption? I've been planning on the basis that the broker CRM admin is available for the first connector. If that person is on leave or busy, I'd want to know now.
- Niamh CostelloI believe so, but I'll confirm. Put it on my list with the extract.
- Ollie PearsonWill do. Two items for you then, and I'll keep them short so they don't get lost.
- Niamh CostelloCan I say one more thing, more general? I was nervous about this one, honestly. The review took a long time and it ran through the outage, and there were days I wondered whether we'd get here. I'm glad we did, but I'll be watching the first weeks closely.
- Theo GallagherThat's reasonable, and I'd expect nothing less. We'd rather you watched closely and saw us do what we said.
- Elena NovakI agree. We will tell you early if anything slips, and in writing.
- Niamh CostelloThat's all I ask.
- Elena NovakLet me read back the actions, so we are agreed before I write them up. One, Theo: confirm a date for the exit plan test with the platform team, and send it in writing by end of this week. Two, Theo: final wording on the July outage note, once your security team has reviewed it, and the control mapping evidence attached. Three, Ollie: the role list and the field list, for your approval before any load. Four, Niamh: ask the policy administration team about the nightly extract, confirm the broker CRM admin, name a contact and deputy for source changes, and introduce your colleague in IT for single sign-on. Five, me: the invitations, the adoption plan for the first review, and these actions in writing today. Have I missed anything?
- Niamh CostelloNo, that's everything. Thank you, Elena, that was well run.
- Ollie PearsonThat's all of mine. I'll get the role list over by tomorrow.
- Theo GallagherMine will follow by the end of the week, once I've spoken to the platform team. Thanks, everyone.
- Niamh CostelloRight, I'll let you go. Talk to you in a fortnight. Best of luck with the extract question, or rather, best of luck to me.
- Elena NovakThank you, Niamh. Kind regards to your team. Goodbye for now.
- Niamh CostelloBye, all.
Callsmade from